Coming out of high school, football fans knew Roman Wilson as a burner. Considering his 4.37 40-yard dash time, that reputation was warranted. But during Saturday’s 38-17 win over Wisconsin, the sophomore wide receiver stood out for other reasons. His team-leading six catches and 81 yards were a product of crisp route running and separation rather than pure speed. Both marks also set a new career-high, a testament to his connection with junior quarterback Cade McNamara. “(Wilson) is growing leaps and bounds,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said Saturday. “… It’s almost like some of those X-Men movies, where the little kid or the teenage X-Man finds their power. Now they know they have it, and they’re using it. It’s really exciting to watch as a coach.” Watching Wilson’s high school film, it doesn’t take long to notice a trend. The Hawaii native made a name for himself as a national recruit by repeatedly burning defensive backs over the top, helping Saint Louis High School win four consecutive state titles. Wilson racked up long touchdowns during the fall and spent the spring running sprints and jumping for the school’s track and field team. But during his first two years in Ann Arbor, he’s grown in ways beyond blazing speed. Wilson is no longer just a deep threat, and some of his most important catches for the Wolverines so far have come on short and intermediate throws. Take Saturday, for example. With Michigan facing a 4th-and-two near midfield, McNamara hit Wilson in stride on a short out route to move the sticks. At another point, McNamara took a downfield shot to Wilson, who timed the ball perfectly for a leaping catch on 3rd-and-10. “Roman Wilson, of anybody, had the best day,” Harbaugh said Monday. “Offensive player of the game, et cetera. Fabulous-type catches.” Wilson no longer has to rely on speed alone to make an impact on Saturdays. After developing the footwork to run short routes to perfection and the skills to make contested catches against physical Big Ten cornerbacks, he’s proven himself as a versatile threat. Senior wideout Ronnie Bell’s season-ending knee injury left the team’s receiving corps with plenty of questions, but Wilson’s emergence has provided an answer. He lacks Bell’s experience, but his rapid growth has allowed him to find consistency over the first half of the season. “I don’t know how much you can really tell from just looking at somebody’s eyes, but the demeanor,” Harbaugh said. “And then he’s catching the ball. Getting open, catching the ball, blocking. His blocking has improved so much.” In just five weeks, Wilson has already matched his reception total and surpassed his yardage total from last season. And as he comes into his own, the Wolverines are reaping the benefits of establishing yet another offensive weapon. But unlike the X-Men finding their powers, Wilson’s drastic improvement isn’t a sudden discovery. “Roman’s been working,” senior receiver Daylen Baldwin said Monday. “All the receivers, we’ve just been pushing each other in ways I don’t even think we know at the end of the day. I go out there and make a good block, that might inspire Roman to make a good block. Roman goes out there and makes a good catch, that might inspire me to make sure I catch the next couple footballs that come to me. “We’re pushing each other without even noticing, and we’re making each other a lot better.” Earlier this week, an SB Nation poll showed that the majority of Michigan football fans weren’t confident in junior Cade McNamara as the starting quarterback. It’s an easy conclusion to draw when — prior to this week’s matchup — more than 80% of the Wolverines’ touchdowns had come on the ground and especially when, other than an 87-yard touchdown against Northern Illinois, McNamara had done little to show he can carry the offense when the run game can’t. That changed on Saturday. Against Wisconsin, he showed that mistrust was doled out prematurely. It’s no secret that up until this point, Michigan has primarily chosen to run the ball. Coming into this Saturday, the Wolverines were averaging 290.8 rushing yards per game compared to just 164 in the air. Meanwhile, Wisconsin holds the nation’s top rushing defense, having held its first three opponents to an average of 23 rushing yards. And Michigan knows what happens when a team figures out how to stop its run game. It happened last weekend: Rutgers held the Wolverines to a season-low 112 rushing yards, and McNamara did little to pick up the slack. He played a decent first half, completing 8-of-11 passes for 156 yards, but his performance fell off later in the game, completing just 1-of-5 passes for seven yards in the second half. Michigan eked out a win while relying on a stymied run game that kept trying to shove a round peg into a square hole. Still, the struggles did little to damper Michigan’s confidence in its passing game. “I think throughout the season, our intermediate stuff has been really good,” McNamara said on Sept. 27. “We’ve thrown it deep in the game, (and) we’ve been able to do that really well, so I think we’re building. … When we’re in those scenarios where we have to throw our way back into a game, I think I’m more than capable of doing that.” And on Saturday, McNamara and his receivers followed through. It started with a 34-yard flea-flicker touchdown pass to junior receiver Cornelius Johnson in the first quarter and ended with another aerial play to Johnson that put Michigan up by 21 in the fourth quarter. In between those highlight- reel moments, McNamara proved himself with smart, consistent second-half plays that culminated in 17 completed passes on 28 attempts for a total of 197 years — a season- high. While the passing game was markedly improved from previous weeks, it still wasn’t perfect. The first half was riddled with juggled balls and missed targets. McNamara threw 10 incomplete passes in the first two quarters. While some fault was on the receivers, McNamara’s throws were frequently misplaced, often lagging behind the route-runner. The offensive performance was as much a testament to the receivers as the quarterbacks themselves. With about 10:48 minutes left in the third quarter, sophomore receiver Roman Wilson sprung up behind a Badger cornerback to snag a seemingly- uncatchable 38-yard bomb from McNamara on third-and-ten. Four plays later, J.J. McCarthy snuck the ball into the end zone with a one-yard rush. Often, McCarthy proved himself to be a valuable supplement to McNamara’s offense. In the fourth quarter, the freshman quarterback extended the Wolverines’ lead to 28 with a 56-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Daylen Baldwin. The flashes of brilliance that have come from McCarthy, combined with fits and bursts from McNamara so far this season, are leading some Michigan fans to hope for a switch in the starter. But, if the Wolverines’ coaching staff is to be believed, McNamara’s starting position has never been in danger. Nor should it be. In the season opener, McNamara registered 136 yards for two touchdowns. At the time, the mark was the second-highest in his Michigan career. Two weeks later against the Huskies, that number was up to 191. Two weeks later — this weekend against the Badgers — he topped it again for 197 yards. None of this is to say that those are stellar, game-changing numbers. But they’re going in the right direction. By the time the second half started, McNamara’s mistakes were few and far between. The throws and catches looked much cleaner in the final two quarters, evidenced by McNamara completing 6-of-7 attempts. “I kind of knew going into this game that it would be difficult to run the ball,” McNamara said after Saturday’s game. “I accepted the challenge, and we got the dub.” Why start a competition at quarterback after Michigan won on the road at Camp Randall for the first time since 2001? After the first underdog win of Jim Harbaugh’s tenure? After a 5-0 start to a season that began with bare-bones expectations? As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t throw a wrench in your entire offensive scheme to fix it. Maybe McNamara won’t throw an 85-yard-game-winning touchdown against Ohio State next month, but, for now, he’s getting the job done. And that’s all Michigan fans should ask for. SportsWednesday: In win over Wisconsin, running game shows offensive potential LANE KIZZIAH Wednesday, October 6, 2021 — 10 Sports The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily In leading Michigan to a dominant victory in Madison, Cade McNamara continued to silence critics. MADISON — On Tuesday, Mazi Smith stood beside Schembechler Hall and grinned in anticipation of the Michigan football team’s pending trip to Wisconsin. “Going into somebody else’s place and trying to take it from them… it shows you who you really are,” the junior defensive tackle said. Early in the fourth quarter on Saturday, when junior receiver Cornelius Johnson executed a toe- tap touchdown catch in the corner of the endzone, posing in front of an abandoned student section, who they are was abundantly clear. The 5-0 Wolverines, fresh off a 38-17 thrashing of the Badgers, are a legitimate contender. In essence, they are who they thought they were — it’s just a version of themselves that few others envisioned. “These last few years, we’ve done enough flinching,” junior defensive back Dax Hill said after the game. “We didn’t want to feel that way anymore.” For the past six months, Michigan has spoken ad nauseum about its culture change, rattling off platitudes about a revamped locker room and the benefits of a young coaching staff. From an outsider’s perspective, those buzzword-ladened refrains tend to sound artificial. Without any tangible on-field success, they would ring hollow. Through five games, the Wolverines have made good on their word. “We’ve taken control of this year and I think we made the changes that we wanted,” junior quarterback Cade McNamara said. “We know that’s not gonna be easy to be different, but so far what you’re seeing right now is just a reflection of everything that we’ve preached, everything we tried to make a difference for in the offseason.” Camp Randall Stadium has been a house of horrors for Michigan for the better part of this century. Before Saturday, the Wolverineswere winless in Madison since 2001. Often, the trip to Wisconsin has induced a sobering reality, rendering any sort of early season success a facade. This go-around had the opposite effect, solidifying Michigan’s undefeated record. The Wolverines both exorcised demons from past visits and backed up their season- long conviction. McNamara spent the majority of September insisting that he was capable of leading Michigan’s offense through the passing game. The fact that he beat out 5-star freshman J.J. McCarthy without a competition and steered the Wolverines to a 4-0 start did little to stave off critics. And yet on Saturday, playing in front of fans on the road for the first time in his collegiate career, McNamara threw for 197 yards and two touchdowns while Michigan’s potent rushing attack managed just 112 yards on 44 carries. McNamara had his fair share of hiccups, but he showed poise under pressure, made throws on the run and executed on a number of critical third and fourth down conversions. The defensive line, which seems to be perpetually gashed by Wisconsin’s run game, wreaked havoc in the backfield, creating continuous pressure and allowing just 43 rushing yards. You wouldn’t be faulted for doing a double-take as Michigan players shedded blocks and flew around the edge with ease, demoralizing the Badgers’ typically dominant offensive line. “A lot of our players, it’s a pretty young team,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “It’s almost like some of those X-Men movies where the little kid, the teenage X-Men find the power. Now they know they have it, and they’re using it. It’s really exciting to watch as a coach.” This sort of growth and improvement from last season’s disastrous 2-4 campaign wasn’t supposed to happen this quickly. Sure, Wisconsin and Washington, who stand as the Wolverines’ two marquee victories on the season, are programs seemingly marred in down years. But Michigan entered this season in the same boat, with question marks up and down the roster and expectations on the floor. From the very first possession, Michigan played with a sense of urgency, representative of a team conscious of the game’s importance. The Wolverines twice went for it on fourth down in their own half of the field. In total, they converted four out of five fourth down attempts, including a one-yard touchdown run from McCarthy. “It’s a statement, a statement play,” sophomore receiver RomanwWilson said of the fourth down aggression. “We want to win and we’re not gonna back down.” The game featured everything that Michigan fans have spent the last few weeks clamoring for. There was a more ordinary run- pass balance, with 30 passing attempts compared to 44 carries; a blend of creativity, with a series of end-arounds to sophomore receiver A.J. Henning and even a 34-yard flea-flicker touchdown to Johnson; and even semi-regular appearances from McCarthy, whose speed adds an intriguing layer to the offense. That’s not to say the win was perfect, but no game is going to be flawless. Michigan proved it can win in spite of its shortcomings, a trait of resiliency absent from last year’s group and one that Harbaugh said he felt when he arrived at the stadium Saturday morning. “A vibe that they weren’t gonna be denied,” Harbaugh said. The prevailing image of Saturday’s demolition occurred in between the third and fourth quarter, when “Jump Around,” Wisconsin’s adopted anthem, blared through the stadium. The Michigan sideline, players and coaches alike, spilled onto the field, thrusting their arms into the air and waving towels. Across the way, Wisconsin, trailing 20-10, stood stoic. It’s a scene that seemed inconceivable just a few weeks ago. And yet, in spite of the celebration, the Wolverines continue to maintain the mentality that has carried them this far. “We have big goals,” junior edge rusher David Ojabo said. “You can’t come in all complacent. It’s just day-by-day, week-by-week. Can’t be high- fiving each other thinking we won a championship. We haven’t done anything yet.” In that context, they haven’t. But they have proven to be a bona fide contender in the Big Ten, something few would have thought a month back — except for the Wolverines themselves. MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily Throughout a dominant victory in Wisconsin, the Michigan football team continued to make good on its early season convictions. The Wolverines are a contender, just like they thought they’d be Roman Wilson’s big day shows how far he’s come DANIEL DASH Daily Sports Editor JARED GREENSPAN MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily Displaying skill and precision on top of sheer speed, Roman Wilson has shown his growth as a receiver so far this season.